Lignano Sabbiadoro

In Italy, at the extreme south west tip of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, on the border with the Veneto region, Lignano Sabbiadoro (UD) is a splendid peninsula modelled by the Tagliamento river estuary and the currents of the Adriatic sea. Between Venice and Trieste and easy to reach from the nearest train stations of Portogruaro (VE) and Latisana (UD), the A4 motorway exit Latisana and from the airports of Venice Marco Polo and Trieste Ronchi dei Legionari, the area is more than 1500 hectares in size and borders to the north at the Marano lagoon, to the west by the Tagliamento river and to the south and east by the Adriatic sea. Lignano Sabbiadoro was originally a small port which the Marano fishermen settled to make use of the pine forest. In the first drawings dating to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Ligano Sabbiadoro peninsula is shown as a series of sand dune rows cut through by an intricate network of canals and strips of sandy beach, a dense forest of Austrian pines, holm oaks and butcher's broom, a few houses on the lagoon side, a fishermen's shelter and a church. A small group of houses began to develop in 1813 and the first hotels were built at the beginning of the twentieth century which definitively launched Lignano Sabbiadoro as a highly successful tourist resort and international tourist destination.